"Now, there is another place" - Bryan Danielson on AEW being a competition for WWE
The raging question, following the conclusion of All Out – that saw Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole debut alongside CM Punk wrestling for the first time in seven years – was, "is AEW serious competition for WWE?"
The American Dragon certainly feels that way.
While speaking at the media scrum following All Out, the YES man recalled his time in WCW's developmental system and the scarcity of promotions to go to if you lost your job. He believed that with AEW, people have another great place to consider, and that makes AEW legitimate competition for WWE.
"So I will say this, since I have been part of wrestling since 1999. I got fired, I was in developmental system in WCW, I got hired in 2000 and fired in 2001 shortly after WCW folded and there wasn't a lot of places for people to go. And now, there is another place, that's legitimate competition, and I think that's great. It wouldn't happen because I couldn't do it, Punk couldn't do it on his own, none of us could do it on our own. We needed somebody with a vision, with the right people, to build something like that up," Bryan Danielson said.
Bryan Danielson believes AEW is "elite"
One major reason for Bryan Danielson choosing AEW over re-signing with WWE was that AEW seemed like an elite option for him to showcase his abilities further.
"You see these guys doing these crazy things and I'm like, 'Oh my god, can I do that?' You know what, yes I can. I don't care. I'm going to go out there and show everybody here what elite really looks like. This is what elite really looks like. Punk had come in and said, 'I want to help the young guys.' No man, I'm going to kick their ***king asses," said Bryan Danielson.
The two-time WrestleMania main eventer is a huge addition to AEW's roster and absolutely nobody can wait to see what he brings to Tony Khan's company.